Nina & Thom

Mobile Suit Breakdown: the Gundam Podcast

Leisure EN ↓ 313 episodes

MSB is a weekly Gundam podcast for new fans, old fans, and not yet fans. Nina (a Gundam first-timer) and Thom (a lifelong Gundam fan) analyze, review, and research all 40+ years of the iconic sci-fi anime mega-franchise Mobile Suit Gundam in the order it was made. We research its influences, examine its themes, and discuss how each piece of the Gundam canon fits within the changing context in Japan and the world, from 1979 to today. Part history podcast, part discussion podcast, all Gundam podcast.

Author

Nina & Thom

Category

Leisure

Podcast website

gundampodcast.com

Latest episode

Jul 11, 2026

Where to listen?

Podcasts in the app Replaio Radio Coming soon

Podcasts are coming to the app soon. Install now and be the first to see a whole new take on podcasts

Get it on Google Play Install for free Android 5M+ downloads · 4.8 rating iOS soon

Episodes

10.11: Paying the Toll 13.04.2024

Show Notes This week on Victory Gundam: Lupe initiates a fiasco, Uso wants to ask you a question, Marbet and Oliver get some more practice fighting like a married couple, and Shahkti wants to be anywhere but here. Plus, Nina's research on the names of the Shrike Team pilots. Please listen to it! Website updates are delayed but the full show notes are available on this page . Mobile Suit Breakdown...

10.10: In the Ruins of This Beautiful Place 06.04.2024

Show Notes This week on MSB, Uso makes a serious error and it nearly costs him that which he holds most dear (the opportunity to see Katejina again), Haro demonstrates remarkable emotional intelligence, Dupre discovers the price of humanity in wartime, and Oliver gets some practice acting like a husband and a father. (Imagine that I said that last part in a really ominous tone of voice.) Research...

A new direction for the podcast 01.04.2024

Show Notes YOU'RE LISTENING TO W.O.R.Y. - ANXIETY RADIO After five years, it's time for a change. Starting today, April 1, 2024, we're going to be taking the podcast in a new direction that we think will really play to our strengths as people. We hope you'll all love WORY as much as you enjoyed MSB. Happy April Fools' Day from MSB!

10.9: The Kasarelia Stampede 30.03.2024

Show Notes This week on Ovine Flock Victory Gunram, the show's real hero finally shows her stuff, Odelo knows how to use one of these, and Cronicle engages in a little recreational deforestation. Plus Shahkti cooks a homecoming stew, Katejina's betrayal leaves Uso stewing, and the mystery of the Kasarelia Kids' parentage continues to simmer, while Nina researches what it might mean for the kids to...

10.8: Fighting Fate 23.03.2024

Show Notes This week on MSB: Nina recognizes the look in a fellow mecha convert's eyes, Thom knows a thing or two about feeling helpless, and we all learn a bit more about ad agencies... maybe even enough to justify a little rampant speculation. Please listen to it! Show notes to come as soon as we're both healthy at the same time, thanks for your patience! Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, record...

10.7: Strange Tactics 16.03.2024

Show Notes By reviving the medieval tradition of podcasting, we have become unstoppable! Plus part 2 of Thom's research into the Japanese advertising industry and its role in anime production. This week: TV program development! Full show notes to come soon, thank you for your patience. Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland...

10.6: A World Gone Mad 09.03.2024

Show Notes This week on MSB: we're back with another remarkable episode of Victory dense with big questions: Is war a part of human nature? Is it better to die or to kill? Should we fight for people or for ideals? And if that's not enough, in the research Thom begins to dive into the world of Japanese advertising agencies as we explore their unsung role in anime production. Content warning: this e...

Announcement: Episode Delay 02.03.2024

Show Notes Unfortunately due to illness we've had to delay the release of episode 10.6 by a week. We are on track to resume our regular release schedule next week (March 9th). Thanks for your patience!

10.5: A Time and Place to Die 24.02.2024

Show Notes This week on Mobile Suit Breakdown: it's the Katejina Show feat. Katejina, in which a young woman with faultless logic shows us what it really means to have a big head. We promise that sentence will make more sense after you listen to the episode. Plus enjoy the second half of Nina's research on women in Japanese society during the first half of the 90s! And a special thank you to every...

10.4: Last Stand in Kasarelia 17.02.2024

Show Notes This week on MSB: Thom thinks it will be a short episode (the runtime proves that to be a lie), not that much happens (except for all the things the characters say and do), and Nina discovers that Xeno's Paradox can apply to research pieces! All that AND we talk about Victory Gundam a bit. Please listen to it! You can find the full show notes in this public post on our Patreon. Mobile S...

10.3: Unfriendly Fire 10.02.2024

Show Notes This week on MSB: blood in the streets of Uwig as B.E.S.P.A.'s cruelest soldiers descend upon the city. Uso (and your hosts) struggle to cope with the horror of it all, Katejina is lucky to be alive, and Shakti is not very good at hiding for someone who's been hiding for most of her life. The full show notes will be available soon on our Patreon and on our website. Mobile Suit Breakdown...

10.2: The Prince and the Pauper 03.02.2024

Show Notes This week on MSB, it's episode 2 of Victory Gundam: The Day He Met the Machine. We discuss this much more conventional opening episode, more dubious translation choices, running gags, production priorities, and lots more. Plus Nina presents the first part of her research into the social fallout of the asset price bubble and the place of young people and otaku in Japanese society as of 1...

10.1: Podcast to the Victory! 27.01.2024

Show Notes Show notes for this episode will be uploaded to our website and this public post on our Patreon soon! Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylv...

Prelude to the Victory 20.01.2024

Show Notes Show notes are available in this public post on our Patreon and will be uploaded to our website shortly. Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Penns...

9.15: Legendary Tale of the Epic Saga (Chapter: the End) 13.01.2024

Show Notes This week on Mobile Suit Breakdown: it's the end of this first era of SD Gundam! In lieu of research, we cast our minds back across all the SD shorts that we've [enjoyed|endured] to render a final verdict on it and discuss what we liked about it, which ones we'd recommend, and what it all meant for the Gundam franchise.  Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Le...

9.14: Legendary Tale of the Epic Saga 06.01.2024

Show Notes On MSB this week, SD Gundam Matsuri takes us back to the medieval world of Suda Doaka for a new saga of good versus evil, Thom finds it impossible to be objective about medieval mecha, and Nina profiles composer Okada Tohru! Show notes will be uploaded to our website soon, and in the meantime they can be found on this free post on our Patreon . Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded...

9.13: Mobile Suitors 11.11.2023

Show Notes Surprise! While we were away someone else translated the second part of SD Gundam Matsuri, so now we get to reap the benefits of their hard work and you get a new episode of Mobile Suit Breakdown about it. Enjoy! Show notes are available on our website ! Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Del...

9.12: Flightless Biped 28.10.2023

Show Notes This week on MSB, Thom returns to Zeta Gundam to talk about the Homo Avis flying machine and, for the first time as far as we can tell, reveal its real world inspiration! Show notes are available on the Gundam Podcast website ! Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before Europ...

9.11: Music Soothes the Savage Beast 21.10.2023

Show Notes This week on MSB... it's finally time for the first part of never-before-translated SD Gundam movie SD Gundam Matsuri - SD Command War Chronicle: Gundam Force: Super G-Arms: Final Formula vs Norm-Gather ! It's time for Space Battles and Rock Operas as the forces of good, evil, and music team up to take down an eldritch horror from beyond the stars. Check out the MSB translation availabl...

9.10: Goodbye Summer 07.10.2023

Show Notes This week on MSB: Nina returns to one of her favorite research topics: the history of food! This time she wants to know all about the shaved ice dessert made from frozen Dom in SD Gundam Mk II part 3. Show notes are available on the Gundam Podcast website ! Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or...

9.9: Your Fave is a War Criminal (Part II) 30.09.2023

Show Notes As promised, Thom is back once again to walk you through the alleged war crimes he's identified in Soldiers of Sorrow and Encounters in Space, plus the answers to a few of your questions. Show notes are available on the Gundam Podcast website! Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, peop...

9.8: Your Fave is a War Criminal (Part I) 23.09.2023

Show Notes People love to call Gundam characters 'war criminals,' but are they really? And if so, who and why? What war crimes did they commit? Who is history's greatest monster? This week on Mobile Suit Breakdown, Thom dusts off his legal skills and dives back into the first Gundam compilation movie with a copy of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in hand to see what he can fin...

9.7: Demons - Harbingers - Protectors 16.09.2023

Show Notes On the podcast this week, Nina was inspired to answer once and for all whether Lt. J.G. Bernard Monsha, veteran of the One Year War and future member of the Titans, is in fact a mythical bird-demon from Japanese folklore. Along the way she discovered that the answer to the question "what is a tengu?" is actually pretty complex. Join us for MSB 9.7: Demons - Harbingers - Protec...

9.6: Tiger of Solomon 09.09.2023

Show Notes This week on MSB, Thom still can't stop talking about Anavel Gato and a 2014 interview with 0083 director Imanishi Takashi offers some unexpected insight into Gato's historical antecedents. Show notes are available on the Gundam Podcast website ! Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, p...

9.5: Hour of the Hippo (P.M.) 02.09.2023

Show Notes On the podcast this week, Nina finally gets to talk about a screenshot that's been sitting on her desktop for years, and the Hour of the Rabbit-hole that it led her down as she explored the history of time in Japan. And yes, we did call a previous episode "The Hour of the Hippo" but that was the Hour of the Hippo A.M. This one is a completely different hour. Show notes are ava...

Listen to the Mobile Suit Breakdown: the Gundam Podcast podcast in Replaio

Radio and podcasts in one app - free, with no sign-up. Install today and do not miss the launch

Get it on Google Play

Replaio is not a podcast publisher; show names, artwork and audio belong to their authors and are distributed through public RSS feeds.